Photos reveal 'persons of interest' in triple homicide 'linked to horrific abuse of pregnant woman who was tortured and burned a month before murders'

Police in Modesto, California, released surveillance photos Wednesday showing two men suspected in connection with a gruesome homicide that left three friends dead in March.

Edward Reining, 31, Alyxandra Tellez, 19, and David Siebels, 16, were gunned down inside an apartment complex on North McClure Road March 3,

The sole survivor of the brutal attack was then-18-year-old pregnant woman, who reported being tortured and beaten at the hands of her boyfriend, Richard Garcia, a month earlier.

New clues: Police released this surveillance photo and two others from 1757 Richland Avenue, in Ceres, in connection to a triple homicide case

Firm link: The release of the photos from Richard Garcia's apartment complex in Ceres marks the first time police had acknowledged a possible connection between his abuse case and the March murders

The alleged abuse, in which Garcia and his friend Armando Osegueda allegedly bound the woman's arms and legs, burned her with lighters, choked, beat and threatened to kill her, took place in January inside the apartment the couple shared in nearby Ceres, theModesto Bee reported.

Both men were arrested, but were back on the street by the end of February.

Although authorities had not publicly
connected Garcia to the shootings at the time, the 21-year-old was
re-arrested for the kidnapping and torture incident the day after the
three bodies were found in Modesto.

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The release of the surveillance photos from Garcia's Ceres apartment complex marks the first time that detectives publicly acknowledged that they are looking into a possible connection between the two cases.

Reinig was found gunned down inside his two-story home in the 700 block of North McClure Road. Garcia's girlfriend and Tellez
were upstairs. The 19-year-old woman said she awoke in the early morning hours to see
one of the gunmen in her room, but stayed quiet.

Quiet home: This two-story house next to a golf course is where three people were found murdered Saturday in Modesto, California

He left the room, then she heard
gunfire and Reinig screaming. Not knowing whether the shooters still
were in the house, the woman called 911 and stayed on the phone with the
dispatcher until police arrived and found the victims, among them her brother, Siebels.

The sole survivor, whose name is being
withheld because she is the victim of domestic violence, has been in
witness protection since March.

That woman's boyfriend, Garcia, was arrested and charged with her kidnapping in February after he allegedly held her captive at their home in Ceres for nine days -- from January 27 through February 5, the Modesto Bee reported.

Kin: David Siebels, 16, who was also killed, was the brother of the lone survivor, an 18-year-old woman with a violent boyfriend

Garcia, who is the father of the child the woman was carrying, flew into a jealous rage after reading text messages on her phone from another man on the night of his 31st birthday. .

As he held her against her will, Garcia beat her, burned her with a lighter and threatened to kill her and her family with a knife and a gun, according to police.

She later told the Bee that her bruises made her look 'like a little monster.'

When her injuries healed, Garcia released his girlfriend. Her family took her to the hospital and called police. Shortly after that, she had an abortion because she didn't want to have 'a baby with the devil.'

When officers raided Garcia's home, they found methamphetamine, a gun capable of shooting armor-piercing ammunition and a large amount of cash.

Police arrested Garcia and charged him on a slew of counts, among them making terrorist threats and spousal abuse, but he immediately posted bail and was let out of jail. He was free when the shootings occurred.

After the killings, prosecutors filed an indictment and police arrested him the next day during a traffic stop. His friend was taken into custody on March 18.

He was charged with felony counts of assault likely to produce great bodily injury, torture, battery on a spouse or cohabitor, threatening to commit a crime that would result in death or injury, and false imprisonment.

The charges are enhanced because Garcia is alleged to have used a gun and knife while making the threats, and because harm was inflicted on his girlfriend, the complaint says.

Garcia and his alleged co-conspirator remain behind bars. Neither man has ever been charged with the murders.